Improvement in extension-ladders



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

LEWIS F.WARD, OF MARATHON, NEV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN EXTENSIONY-LADDERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,345. dated April 28,1863.

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEWIS F. WARD, of Marathon, in the county ofCortland and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Extension-Ladders and I do hereby declare that the sameare described and represented in the following specification anddrawings.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my improvements, Iwill proceed to describe their construction and use, referring to thedrawings, in which the same letters indicate like parts in each of thefigures.

Figure 1 is a plan or top view. Fig. 2 is a section.

The nature of my invention and improvements in extension-laddersconsists in the combination and arrangement of devices hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, A A are side pieces connected by the barsB B, and the upper bar has a pulley, G, on it for the rope to run overthat raises and lowers the other sections. I fasten two boxes to thesides A A for the shaft D to turn in, which winds the rope to raise theother sections of the ladder. The shaft D is provided with two wheels, EE, iitted to turn freely on the shaft and roll on the ground when theladder is moved, and when it is set up the linchpins are taken out andput through the hub of the wheels and shaft, w-hich may be turned by thecrank-pins F F to wind or unwind the rope that raises the sections; andwhen the ladder is taken down the linchpins may be replaced in the endof the shaft and the ladder carried on the wheels. Thereis a ratchet, G,fastened to the shaft D, and a sliding pawl, H, to catch the teeth ofthe ratchet when it is turned, so as to hold the ratchet and shaft whenthe rope is wound up. There are some tubes, I I, fitted to the ends ofthe sides A A, which tubes receive the ends of the sides A A', so as toconnect them together. The metal guides J J are fastened to the sides AA, and also the guides K K, to hold and guide the upper sections as theyare run up by the rope L, 'which is provided with a hook, M, which ishooked under the lower bar of the section to be raised, and the ropepasses over the pulley C to the shaft D, which winds up the rope anddraws vup the section, and there are inclined planes when the catchesspring out below the inclined plane and hold up the section. The lowerends of the upper sections are provided with tubes to receive andconnect the ends of the sections next below, so that when one sectionhas been drawn up by the rope L the ends of the next section may beinserted in the tubes, and the rope and hook drawn down and hooked underthe lower bar, so that it may be drawn up and push up the section aboveit. The sides A2 A2 of the upper section are hinged at Q, Q, so that theupper portion will lay on the roof of the house, as shown in thedrawings. The ends of the bar R may form the pivots of the hinge. Thesides of this ladder are the same distance apart from end to end in allthe sections, and I make a car, S, Fig. 3, with wheels which run on thesides of the ladder, and the rope to draw up this car passes over thepulley T on the bar R, and over the pulley U, then down over the pulleyV to the shaft D. rThe pulleys T and V hold the rope from the eaves ofthe roof. The ends Y Y of the last section raised are slanted off, asshown in the drawings, to allow the car-wheels to pass readily onto orover them, and the ends of the guides J J are so thin that thecar-wheels pass readily over them. The wheels of the car should be solarge, or the bars which connect the axles should be placed so high,that the car will pass readily over the bend in the ladder at Y theeaves.

The car S may be used to take up shingles, brick, mortar, or othermaterials required.

The spikes in the staples W W may be driven into the roof when theladder is placed to hold it there. n

There may be more sections in number than are shown in the drawings, soas to make the ladder the length required.

I contemplate that the tubes which connect the sections may have aninclined plane joined to them.

I believe I have described my improvements in extension-ladders so as toenable any per- 2. The construction of the ladder in the son skilled inthe art to make and use theni manner land for the purpose substantiallyas Without further invention and experiment. described.

I will now state what I desire to secure by Letters Patentl L F'WARD' 1. The inclined planes P P, in combination Witnesses: with thespringcatches P', for locking` the A. PECK, sections. J AMES H. PARKER.

